Kinder Morgan spokesman Andy Galarnyk confirms the line has been shut down as a precaution after a company crew noticed a problem in the Hope area, about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Galarnyk says regulatory agencies and local authorities have been notified and the company is following the same procedures used on June 12 when a small leak occurred near Merritt, about 120 kilometres north of Hope.

There’s no word, yet, on the extent of the latest leak, but it comes on the same day as Kinder Morgan plans to hold an open house in suburban Vancouver on the planned expansion of the pipeline.

That expansion would almost triple the line’s capacity and include shipments of diluted bitumen, a heavier, molasses-like oil that critics claim is harder to clean up.

The Trans Mountain line currently moves 300,000 barrels per day of various petroleum products from Alberta to B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Washington State.